Customer Reviews

The Mortal Storm (1940) (Import Edition - NTSC format - Region 1 - Playable in North America)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one of the greatest movies ever made. The character development, storyline, and growing tension all combine for a must-see. Almost every actor/actress deliver exceptional performances, led of course by Jimmy Stewart. It is a stunningly sad, yet noble story that takes place as the Nazis destroy warm families, lifelong friends, and intellectual inquiry. I hope this makes it onto DVD since it is a valuable time capsule portraying events that must never be forgotten.

It's amazing how few reviews were found for this film....but then, it isn't. There are lots of absolute gems that modern classic-movie buffs often miss, for whatever reason---"Mortal Storm" doesn't often show up on the lists of usual must-sees, but it should. This picture is chillingly real---even with the MGM treatment, it's a realistic portrayal of what the horrors of World War II did to nice, decent, everyday people. It's tragic, but so well acted that you can't take your eyes off it. Margaret Sullavan was a huge star in the 30's and 40's, and this role shows her at her best. The lady had talent, and she will take you on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. Initially, you may not picture James Stewart as a Polish boy, but he does the job well----(more than once, in fact--remember "Shop Around the Corner"?)

Here he's the principled young man who loves her despite being in mortal danger. Frank Morgan turns in his usual top-quality support as Sullavan's stepfather, and--surprise--you'll end up hating good old "Father Knows Best"/"Marcus Welby" star Robert Young. If you have any love of good classic film at all--do not miss this.

It is a discgrace that Warner would release such a lousy print of such a great movie. The movie is one of Jimmy Stewart's hard to find movies - I actually have it on VHS and as a movie, it deserves 5 stars.

However, the print from Warner Archives is horrible. I was excited at being able to get some movies that were not on DVD before through warner archives and made the mistake of ordering 4 films. I already had 3 on VHS, but wanted them on DVD.

One of my purchases is The Mortal Storm - a great WWII drama. THis is one of Jimmy Stewart's finest films, despite being lessor known by some causal fans and its unfortunate that Warner doesn't see fit to give it a proper release. Unfortunately, the Warner Archive release picture quality is probably worse then then my VHS tape and is clearly MUCH worse then the print quality you would see when the Turner Classic movie channel plays it on TV from time to time. While the picture quality of the Mortal Storm was slightly better then Mr. Lucky (another great film -lousy transfer, that I also reviewed), it is far below what a film of this quality deserves.

It is disgraceful not only for Warner to be giving such crappy transfers to great films, but it is equally disgraceful to charge classic movie fans for films that have worse print quality then what the would see on TV when TCM plays the films and even worse then the old VHS tape was!!!

I've still got around 200 classic films on VHS and another 500 or so classics now on DVD/Blu-Ray, however I will NOT be purchasing any more Warner Classic films, even though there were around 50 or 60 titles I was interested in picking up - many of which I used to have on VHS and some that weren't available on VHS before.

I know a lot of people are just happy to see some of the Warner Archive titles on DVD, but as the paying public, we should not be supporting their hosing us by putting out such crappy quality of some of the best movies made!!

this movie is excellent. german alps, late 1930- early 1940's. nazi occupation begins. small village in the mountains, in snow, fighting resistance organized, many young men join nazi's and turn on old values.

excellent film, shows courage and strength of good people during very difficult,confusing and frightening times. please release this film soon.

When I first saw this movie as a junior high school student in the mid 1960s I confess that I wept at the movies climax and ending and simultaneously got a serious adolescent crush on Magaret Sullivan which lasted a long time. She is one of the great actresses of American film and her voice is absolutely unique - light,tremulous and expressive, like no other.There are some movies you see and never forget and this is one of them. The Mortal Storm was made in 1940, over 18 months before the U.S went to war. Its depiction of the Nazis is not over the top evil or cartoonish - it is chilling and terrifying. It was also a brave film for MGM to make in 1940 - so much for the MGM image of only making nice, safe, family pictures. The movie depicts the intrusion of the Nazi totalitarian state in 1933 {in a small university town} into an German upper middle class family that will divide and destroy it. Hitler comes to power at the moment that Professor Roth {Frank Morgan} is celebrating his 60th birthday with his wife, step sons, son, daughter { Margaret Sullivan}, and friends /friendly rivals for Freya, Jimmy Steward {Martin Breitner|} and Robert Young {Fritz Marburg}.While Professor Roth is toasting his families humor and tolerance you can see the family and friends dividing as the radio blares the news of Hiltler gaining power while the birthday cake is being cut. Professor Roth is a renowed / distingished professor who is Jewish {inthe movie "non aryan"} and the gradual descent from ostracism in the town / university, to a student boycott of his classes to broken inmate in a concentration camp is exrcruciatingly painfull to watch. While he is Jewish , his wife and older stepsons are not while his daughter and son are 1/2 Jewish. These facts immediate target the family to the local Nazi party. The movie depicts the entire Nazi horror - the burning of books by students, the co-opting of the young into the party, the brownshirted stormtroopers beating up anyone who is different, the mindless conformism and cultivation of hardness and devotion of duty to the state above all else. Jimmy Steward gives a strong and sensitive performance as the lone hold out amoung the friends in joining the Nazi party because he values his right to think and speak freely. Robert Young is surprisingly effective as an earnest conformist and opportunist who joins the Nazis for power and loses Freya to Martin as a result. Frank Morgan gives one of his best performances at first proud, then bewildered and finally broken professor - seeing him shuffle into the waiting area of the concentration camp for a last meeting with his wife {Irene Rich} is heartbreaking. The Roth family flees to Austria after one of Roth's stepsons {a young Robert Stack who is now a brownshirted stormtrooper} who is now a Nazi brownshirt informs the his mother step sister and stepbrother of Professor Roth's death saying that he is "finally free". Freya is prevented from leaving Germany with her mother and brother because of a treatise on science and bloodtypes written by her father that she was taking with her for sentmental reasons. This document is contrary to Nazi ideology and as a result she is forbidden to leave Germany and her passport is confiscated. This leads to the climax of the film where Martin with and Freya attempt to reach Austria thru a pass thru the mountains known only to Martin. The Brownshirts / Nazis led by Robert Young discover the plan and using automobiles reach the area where they have to emerge into the open and while Martin and Freya are making a mad dash sking down the mountain, Freya is shot and dies even as they have made it to freedom. While breaking the news to Freya' brothers Robert Young with false bravado claims to have had "no choice" but to shoot at them and do his duty" !!! The marvelous Maria Ouspenskaya plays Jimmy Steward's mother and her scene with them toasting to their future happiness with the Brides cup knowing she will never see them again is as heartbreaking scene and performance as I have ever seen in a movie. Frank Borzage is does a masterfull job in directing the movie, I have'n 1/2 described the one after another great individual set-piece scenes in the movie that he infuses with his special directorial touch. Frank Morgan's performance will be a revelation to those viewers only familar with his dithering " Professor Marvel" in the Wizard of Oz - showing what a fine serious actor he could be. Margaret Sullivan's touching and glowing performance that mixes vunerability and strenght is heart of the film in a movie that after 70 years is a still powerfull, disturbing and revelant film. I give this movie 5 stars and my strongest recommendation to add it to your film library.

There has been so much already written about this film that is on the mark, so I would just like to point out a few things that made this film really stand out for me.

For a studio known for emphasizing the "Gloss" treatment in their productions, MGM here has shows a rare,and uncompromising faithfulness to what was VERY potent subject matter at the time. It is NO Wonder ALL MGM films were banned in Germany after this one, for the remainder of the war!!

This is easily Frank Morgan's FINEST performance;Noble and powerfully understated, It seems somewhat shortchanging to him that he's been immortalized for his more blustery role in "The Wizard Of Oz".

And it's interesting to note, that the main "Star", James Stewart's character, actually disappears for the MOST of the last half of the film; I think this was an unusually admirable choice for the studio to make, in keeping the fabric of the film flowing as smoothly as possible, since more often than not,the studio would insist that the star's part be pumped up to give him/her more screen time bang for the buck.

The Mortal Storm is one of the very few films to depict the evils of Nazism before the United States entered the war; and it certainly is a message film as well. Although the film is obviously designed to encourage people to support American involvement in World War Two, it never gets preachy nor does it have any silly moments that are saccharine. Indeed, the script was very well written; the casting was excellent and the acting was very convincing. The choreography and the cinematography work wonders for the film although you will notice that a few of the outdoor background scenes do appear to be manufactured or even painted and not real outdoor shots of southern Germany where this story takes place.

The action starts on an auspicious day for the Roth family; Professor Viktor Roth (Frank Morgan) is celebrating his 60th birthday. The family lavishes him with gifts and there are many gifts and cards in the mail as well. His two stepsons give him books he has been looking for and his daughter is only too happy to give him a scarf as well. There's even a surprise party for Viktor when he gets to his classroom at the college where he teaches.

Unfortunately, however, the family's happiness doesn't last long. That very evening Hitler is elected Chancellor of Germany; and the conflict that will tear the family apart immediately ensues. Viktor's two stepsons are only too eager to join the Nazi party and they relish war to get Germany in control of the world again (as Fritz Marberg, played to perfection by Robert Young, boasts) while Viktor, his wife, their daughter Freya (Margaret Sullavan) and their friend Martin Breitner (James Stewart) aren't so sure that this will be the best path for Germany to follow.

And the conflicts only get worse as the months pass. We see Nazis burning books by Einstein and they beat up an elderly teacher who refuses to sing along in their song praising their new leader and The Third Reich. Even Fritz and Freya begin to have serious difficulties; they had planned on getting married but Freya is not longer certain she loves Fritz as he becomes more and more involved with the new order. Martin begins to hope that perhaps Freya, the woman he's always loved, will want to marry him instead of Fritz although Martin's too gentlemanly to make his intentions for Freya known. There's even great, great trouble for the now formerly beloved Professor Viktor Roth.

The plot can still go in several different directions. Which man will Freya choose to be her husband? How exactly is the Roth family torn irreparably apart when politics comes between them and their happiness together as a family? No spoilers here--watch and find out!

The Mortal Storm is a very engaging film and I was never once bored. I highly recommend this film for anyone studying World War Two or the history of Nazism; and fans of the actors in this movie would do well to add this to their collections.

The Mortal StormI first saw this film on tv many years ago and often thought of it as a perfect example of how a simple Hollywood movie can make you think of things in a different light.

The story is how the coming of the Nazis affect a happy community in pre war Austria and how mans inhumanity to man bring about tragic changes that have happened many times since the film came out.James Stewert is great as the moral hero,standing by his friends who are Jewish whilst the rest allow fear to destroy their old ways to the detriment of everyone in the end.Margret Sullivan(whom i never really took to as an actress)is good in her part and the whole thing hangs together very well,age has not diminished it at all.For people who love old B/W movies, this is a film to enjoy and learn at the same time.Good movie.

This very fine film is one of many re-issued by the Warner Archive Collection on a burn-on-demand basis. This means that the DVDs are burned to sell as they are ordered, rather than pressed in large quantities, as most DVDs found in shops are manufactured. Burn-on-demand discs do not have a silvery flip side; they have a purplish or bluish hue.

It should also be noted here, for Amazon customers wishing to trade-in this or any of the other Warner Archive Collection DVD titles through Amazon's buy back program, that the purchasing agent located in Hudson, New Hampshire, does not consider burn-on-demand DVDs to be a correct format and will return them to the seller. This, despite their inclusion of a "trade-in" link on virtually every WAC DVD title listed on the Amazon.com website. Expect any WAC DVD titles to be returned to you, if you attempt to trade them in through Amazon.

The Mortal Storm is a powerful movie that will haunt you long after you have watched it. It begins at Adolph Hitler's rise to power in the early 30's and the advent of the Hitler movement in the Universities. Though never mentioned by name and treated quite kindly, it shows the beginning of the purging of the Jews.

Thoughts and opinions and loyalties are challenged. Those who disagree are ostracized and beaten and jailed. Families and lifelong friends are torn apart and turn on one another.

Everywhere is fear and anger. Any slight difference of opinion is seen as a threat to the state and is harshly punished. The political tone is so toxic that people begin the attempts at fleeing their country.

It is brilliantly acted by the young James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan and Robert Young and by the veteran Frank Morgan.

This is a film that should be shown in every history class. This movie has stayed in my thoughts for decades.